Morrison leads Lady Ads past Heritage in four-set thriller
It was the Elsa Morrison Show Thursday evening, Sept. 7, on Farragut High School’s home volleyball court in Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium.
The junior outside hitter made her presence felt in every facet of the match in helping her team defeat District 4-3A foe Heritage 3-1. The set scores were 25-17, 24-26, 31-29 and 25-21.
For the match, Morrison, who seemed to be everywhere on the court, had 28 kills, 17 digs and three aces. The team had 55 kills and 45 digs.
“It was a good day hitting and passing,” Morrison said. “I think today we played really well as a team. Other games you could tell we were kind of compartmentalized.
“But this game we were playing like one unit.”
“She was unbelievable,” Lady Admirals head coach Andre Alves said of Morrison. “The girls, we’ve been struggling with our identity, finding our game. Tonight they did, they competed, they kept being aggressive.”
FHS led 16-8 in the first set before Heritage won nine of the next 11 points to cut the lead to 18-17. But the final seven went to Farragut, the set-clincher being a placement winner by junior setter Tori McNair.
The score in the second set continually see-sawed back and forth. The Lady Admirals had a set point at 24-23 but couldn’t convert. Three straight by the Lady Mountaineers gave them the set, 26-24.
High drama dominated the end of the third set. The Lady Admirals had set points at 26-25 and 28-27 but couldn’t put it away.
They saved set points at 23-24, 24-25, 26-27, and 28-29. Finally, up 30-29, a kill by Morrison gave them a 2-1 set lead.
Down 13-8 in the fourth, FHS tied it at 13 with five in a row. HHS led 19-17, but the Lady Admirals then ran off eight of the final 10 to clinch the match.
“You gotta let the highs and lows go,” Morrison said. “You can’t go up and down a bunch.”
Senior middle blocker Avi Lieb had three blocks and McNair had 36 assists for Farragut.
“We just played well together,” said Alves. “They were just resilient. Tonight they found another gear and they executed.”
Farragut finished the week 1-2. It dropped matches to Webb School of Knoxville on Tuesday and Cleveland High School on Wednesday. Both match scores were 2-0. FHS’s record at week’s end stood at 7-9, 2-2 District.
